First Light
by Little Acorns
Summary: Three students from Hogwarts are sent on an exchange trip to the small town of Forks.. EC/OC, BS/OC, BZ/DM, lingering EC/BS.. Slash and FemmeSlash.. Don't Like, Don't Read Don't Own-Don't Sue! Collaboration w. Casey42.. Please Review!
1. Chapter 1

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement. Thousands of students all eagerly talking at once, all discussing the announcement Professor Dumbledore had just made- That the top three Seventh Year students in Muggle Studies would be going on exchange for six months, and not just on exchange to the Salem Institute of Magic, the three lucky students would be going on exchange to a muggle school in America, in a town called Forks, well known amongst the magical community for being equal to the Bermuda Triangle in terms of unexplainable occurrences. During the six months they spent there, the selected three students would live entirely as muggles, where their classes studied would count as their NEWTS. They would be provided with a house, and a weekly allowance for food, clothing, and anything else that takes their fancy.

Dumbledore smiled indulgently, watching the students talk amongst themselves, giving them a chance to get the excitement out of their systems before continuing.

" I won't keep you all in anticipation for any longer than necessary, so, without further ado, the students selected are- Hermione Granger, from Gryffindor House!" There was a tumultuous cheer for Granger, who grinned and blushed at the many pats on the back she received. Dumbledore again waited a moment before continuing.

"The second student going to America will be Alana Wilde, also of Gryffindor House!" There was cheering once again, and a thin pale girl with short spiky blonde hair and startling grey eyes grinned, although inside she was not without trepidation. The strong dislike between Alana and Granger was well known throughout the school, and if the next name announced was not someone Alana was friendly with, the trip could be very unpleasant indeed.

The anticipation was almost unbearable as Dumbledore began to speak a third time, and Alana listened to his announcement with a beating heart.

"And last, but by no means least, Imogen Snape, from Slytherin House!" The cheering for this girl was quieter, although Slytherin House did its best to make up for the less than enthusiastic applause from the other three houses.

Imogen Snape was a tall thin girl, with long dark hair sitting between Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. She had the dark, penetrating eyes of her father, Severus Snape, and sharp features. She was lucky that she had inherited only her father's eyes and demeanour, and not his hooked nose or sallow skin. Even her hair, while as dark as her father's, was thick, and shining, rather than oily or lank.

She gave a quick smile to Alana, who was grinning and cheering, feeling thoroughly relieved that her closest childhood friend had been selected to go with her.

Imogen herself was thrilled, although to look at her, one would not detect anything but a mild happiness. She'd grown up in a thoroughly magical household in Spinner's End, but her fascination with muggles had been long embedded in her, ever since she had been four, and Alana's muggle father had taken the two of them to the muggle cinemas.

"Alright, Snapey!" Draco was saying to her, as the food magically appeared. "Way to go beating all the Ravenclaws! Shame about Granger, though." He added as an afterthought, as he began serving himself.

Imogen smiled. "Well yes, but hardly any Ravenclaws take Muggle Studies, Draco. It's apparently beneath them." Draco's pride as a Slytherin tended to present itself as competitiveness between the other houses, and Imogen was occasionally guilty of the same competitive flaw. The meal went rather quickly, Imogen, Draco and Blaise discussing what they knew of Forks, and making plans for letters, visits, and the like. They continued talking as they entered the dorm, and Imogen began sorting out what she was going to take to Forks the following day.

Meanwhile, Alana was curled up in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, listening to everyone discuss the trip, all happily unaware she was there, as she was so often in the Slytherin common room with her friends. As it was, she could hear every word they were saying.

"You were always going to get a spot, 'Mione. You can't really say you're surprised." Ron Weasley was saying.

"It's a great honour, Ron, and I was never sure." Granger responded prissily.

"What about the other two though? I mean, I guess Alana's smart, that's fair enough, but what about the Slytherin? I didn't think any of them were even taking that class." Weasley spoke again.

"Oh, there are a few, Snape, and that Zabini boy. There's Greengrass too, although she's quiet, unlike the Snape girl." Granger said, this time scrunching her nose up with disapproval.

"I still can't believe she'd his kid. I mean, I know it's been like, six years or whatever, but I can't see him caring about anyone enough to have a kid." Weasley again.

"There's a lot about the Professors you wouldn't know." Granger said archly.

"Yeah yeah. Still, what is it with those two anyway? Alana and Snape junior? I mean, Alana's a Gryffindor, you'd think she'd know better."

"They grew up together, since Alana's dad died." That was Harry, and his pronouncement spawned the same stunned expression from the two bickering friends.

"How'd you know that, mate?" Ron asked.  
Harry shrugged. "Our parents were friends. They went to school together. Apparently my mum even introduced her mum to her dad."

"Oh, Harry! How did you even find that out? I didn't think you knew much about your parents before.. I mean, did Sirius tell you? Or Remus?"

"Bit of both really. And Dumbledore gave me all the stuff saved from the house over the holidays; there was some old school stuff, a few old pictures. There's a picture of mum and Alana's mum together at school, a picture of both our parents together, just before mum and dad got married. There's even some of Alana and me as babies. We were supposed to be friends, but then they died, and I got sent to the Dursleys.."

Alana felt a tear falling down her cheek, and hastily wiped it away, even though she knew no one could see her in her dark corner. Alana had always known that she and Harry had been raised basically as siblings, up until they turned one and everything went wrong. Even though she herself couldn't remember any of it, her mother frequently reminisced about Lily, the woman who had basically been her surrogate sister, and remained to this day the closest friend Elspeth Wilde had ever had. She also knew that her parents had appealed the decision to give Harry to the Dursleys, and that her parents had even offered to adopt Harry themselves. Elspeth still resented Dumbledore for refusing them.

In first year, Alana had tried her hardest to befriend him, but she'd heard him talking rather badly about the Slytherins, and she knew that there was no way she could be friends with him without loosing Draco, Blaise, if not Imogen, as her friends, the fiercely proud Slytherins that they were. But now, hearing Harry talk about them, a spark of hope leapt in her chest. Maybe she still had a chance of them being friends?

"Oh, Harry.." Granger said in a pitying voice, breaking Alana's train of thought. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Yeah mate, that must have been hard for you." Weasley said.

Harry shrugged again. "I dunno.. I just didn't know what to say."

"I'm sorry Harry. I didn't mean to pry. I- I should go pack." Granger said, not meeting Harry's eyes as she rushed off to the girl's dorms.

"Yeah. Look mate, I'm sorry. Wanna do rounds with me? Scare a few first years and stuff?" Weasley asked his friend as he stood. Harry shook his head. Weasley shrugged, and wandered out the portrait hall.

Harry sat and watched his friend leave, and he caught sight of her. They looked at each other awkwardly, Alana knowing that she should say something, but was coming up blank. Harry turned and walked to the male dorms silently before she had a chance to even move.

Alana ran out of Gryffindor tower after that, trying to keep her tears at bay, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. She ran down and down and down, until there was no more down to go, and she reached the cold stone wall she was looking for. She paused a moment to collect herself further, feeling better knowing that her friends were close at hand, and that she'd be comforted soon enough, should she continue to need it. She wiped her face, drying it of the few tears that had managed to escape, despite her best efforts. "_Orpheus_" she whispered, the wall sliding open at the password. She had been coming to the Slytherin common room since her first day at Hogwarts, and if she were honest, it felt more like home to her than Gryffindor tower ever would.

Alana walked straight into Imogen's room, knowing she would find her three best friends there. Sure enough, Imogen was standing over her trunk, arguing with Draco and Blaise over what of her things she should pack. Draco was saying to just shrink her things so she could pack everything, while Blaise was only packing the short, leather or lacy things that Imogen owned, while Mimi herself was throwing everyone else's suggestions out and only adding her own, rather eclectic selections of clothing into the trunk.

Alana laughed at the sight of them, already feeling better. They looked up at her at this. "What?" they said in unison, each wearing a very similar expression saying 'You'd better not be laughing at me, girly.'

"I love you guys. Really." Alana laughed and shook her head at them.

The boys ignored her at this, and resumed packing Imogen's clothes, while Imogen herself quirked an eyebrow and said, "What happened? And why aren't you packing?"

"No need. Already packed." Alana said, plopping herself onto Imogen's bed, nonchalantly inspecting a discarded light blue and cream lace corset that Blaise had clearly overlooked. "When did you wear this?" She asked Imogen coyly. Imogen glared, while Blaise looked over at Alana and snatched the garment out of her hands with an "Ooh!" eagerly tossing it into Imogen's overflowing trunk.

Imogen glared quickly at Alana, and fished the corset out of the trunk and hurled it at Alana's head.  
"You are so not helping." She told her blonde friend.

"Oh come on! Immy, that was sexy!" Blaise protested.

"Blaise, shut up!" Imogen growled at her friend. As unfriendly as the dark haired girl acted towards her friends, everyone present in the room knew that Imogen loved everyone of them like family, and that there was very little she wouldn't do to help them.

She turned back to Alana. "And you, don't change the subject. What happened?"

Alana shrugged. "Just the Golden Trio, having a go at Slytherins again. Wondering why I'm friends with you, why you're going on the trip, blah blah blah." Alana waved a hand, dismissing the topic. "Not important, just annoying."

"So you came down here to spread the annoying?" Imogen said, playfully now that she knew her friend was ok.

Draco was about to say something, but Imogen, already knowing that it was going to be something disparaging about Potter, elbowed him sharply, and gave him a look that told him clearly that to speak would cause his painful downfall. He stayed quiet, knowing that Alana was a bit touchy about Potter. However, it was open season on Granger.

"Was Granger being completely unbearable? Thinking she was the smartest little beaver in the whole wide world?" Draco said.

Alana groaned. "She still thinks she's Merlins gift to magic everywhere. She's freaking ridiculous!"

The four in the room knew that Alana and Imogen were both singularly intelligent, easily more so than Granger. Alana was purely instinctual, learning and perfecting her magic purely by the feel of it, while Imogen had a mind like a flytrap. She could remember facts from ten years ago just as easily as she could from ten minutes ago. She could read things once, and remember them forever, which was how she was number one in both History of Magic, and Ancient Runes, second in Potions (she maintained it was just because her father didn't want to show too much favouritism) and Muggle Studies, and was in the top ten of her other subjects.

Alana was coming first in DADA, second in Transfiguration, third in Muggle Studies, and coming fourth in Charms, although she had been accelerated a year in that particular subject. She was, however, completely dismal at Herbology and History of Magic, due to her short attention span and her penchant for drifting off to sleep halfway through classes. She should have been first in Divination, as her mother was a renown seer who had passed her talent over to her daughter, but Alana's obvious disdain of Trelawney meant that the teacher marked her as low as was possible.

"You know, I bet that she'll struggle to find even one friend at that school you go to. Not with you two there. Even the novelty of her being an exchange student won't help her out there." Blaise said, talking about Granger. "Although, Immy, you could probably make more friends if you didn't pack so many things made of fur." Blaise said, as he held up a tan coat, with chocolate brown fur trimmings.

"Faux fur, thank you." Imogen said, snatching the coat out of his hands and packing it lovingly into the trunk. "And I happen to love that coat."

The four chatted for a while, and the boys eventually retreated to their own room, leaving the two girls to their girl talk and Imogen to her packing. As they changed into their pyjamas, the two boys talked.

"I'm worried about them." Draco said what they'd both been thinking for the last five hours. "I don't know how they'll cope. Imogen has never spent that much time around muggles, and I know 'Lana will help, but I'm worried. Who'll look after them? Or the people she'll attack when she gets pissed off at Granger?" Draco and Blaise both thought of Imogen's explosive temper, but Blaise shook it off.

"They'll be fine, Drake. Really. Severus will have provided for them at the house, they'll have money, they'll have the amulets, and besides, they're more than capable of looking after themselves. Imogen's had to deal with Death Eaters even before puberty, I'm sure a couple of muggles will be no problem."

"I know.. I just, I dunno.. I don't want them to go. I'm gonna miss them."

Blaise laughed and put his arms around the smaller boy. "Am I not enough then?"

Draco looked up at him and smiled. "You know that's not it." Draco returned the hug. "They're our best friends, and we've never been at Hogwarts without them. Its just gonna be the two of us." He sighed, and breathed in the scent of the boy he'd fallen in love with over the summer. "Should we tell them about us?"

Blaise smiled and kissed the top of the blonde's head. "Not yet. I want to keep this between us for just a little longer. But we'll tell them soon. First chance we get to visit them. I promise."

Draco smiled, and leaned up to press his lips against Blaise's. "Okay." He mumbled as Blaise deepened the kiss.

Blaise broke off for a moment to look into Draco's molten silver eyes. "I love you, Drake."

Draco melted just a little more into his lover's embrace. "I love you too Blaise."

The conversation could be finished tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Breakfast was a quick affair for those departing for America that day, as well as the friends of those leaving. The two boys and Imogen went to meet Alana and the teachers in the entrance hall, from where they would be portkeying to their house in Forks. They stepped into the entrance hall, and found Professors Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall waiting for them with two portkeys, surrounded by three trunks. Granger was already waiting with Potter and Weasley.

"Hiya Professors." Alana waved at them with a smile, while Imogen only nodded in acknowledgement, before going to stand with her father, where Alana soon joined them.

"Hey Dad." Imogen smiled at her father, who was also something of an idol to her. "Imogen." He said warmly. "Congratulations. I'm very proud of you."

Imogen beamed at that. Alana smiled at the man she saw as an uncle.

"Hi Sev."

Meanwhile, Imogen was staring at her father in accusation. "You knew about this, didn't you? That's why you insisted we go shopping for muggle clothes! Why didn't you tell me?"

Severus smiled at his only daughter. "If you didn't work it out yourself, you didn't deserve to know." Imogen sighed. That was his answer for so much.

"Still.."

Dumbledore's voice interrupted the conversation.

"One minute to go. Please say your goodbyes."

Imogen and Alana quickly verified that Severus was to be accompanying them to Forks, and then rushed to say goodbye to Draco and Blaise.

"Bye Draco! You don't write and I'll kick your ass, ok?" Alana babbled as she hugged the blonde boy.

"yes ma'am! We'll visit whenever we can." Draco assured her.

Imogen was hugging Blaise, and extracting much the same promised from him.

" I expect frequent owls. Don't let me down."

Blaise smiled. "I promise to keep you fully updated, Snapey. Don't worry about a thing."

Imogen narrowed her eyes at him. "Good."

She moved over to Draco, but before she said anything, he rolled his eyes at her and said. "I know. Write. Visit. Now, find yourself a hot American male."

Imogen raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that an order, Sir?"

Draco winked. "Absolutely."

Imogen chuckled, and hugged him.

"Bye Drake."

"Bye Snapey."

Imogen and Alana broke away from their friends, and turned to face the professors. Dumbledore explained what was going on.

"Professor Snape shall take your belongings over, and you three shall be taken by portkey, accompanied by Professor McGonagall, to your house in Forks. Now, if you please." Dumbledore indicated the battered old walking stick McGonagall was holding. Imogen saw her father and the three trunks disappear out of the corner of her eye.

"Hold on tight, ladies." McGonagall was saying. They all complied. "Excellent. Three, two, one"

There was the disquieting 'hook in the navel' sensation of portkeying, but when their feet hit the ground, the girls were all standing in a rather small room that seemed to be the living room of the house the girls were to share for a year.

Imogen looked around her, appraising the room. It was small, and rather bare, this particular room boasting a small fireplace, probably connected to the Floo network, a battered looking brown leather lounge, a threadbare rug covering very scratched up floorboards, a tiny television in the corner, and a little stereo sitting on some corner shelves. Not perfect, but certainly not unliveable. She inspected the house further. The kitchen was small, but sterile and perfectly serviceable, and the tiny dining room sported an equally tiny dining room table. The bathroom was small, but clean enough.

She walked further, and found a corridor that led to three bedrooms. She saw her father in one of them with the three trunks.

"Dad."

Severus looked up and smiled.

"Imogen. Good to see you made it. Now, quickly, tell me which bedroom you want."

Imogen quickly inspected the three bedrooms, and selected the one furthest to the back, with the slanted ceiling, and a window that looked into the tiny backyard. She noticed that it was raining rather heavily, and that it was early in the morning.

She smiled at her father as he levitated her trunk into her room.

"Right. We'd like a word with you three before we leave you to your own devices. So, into the living room."

Imogen followed her father into the living room, and found McGonagall, Granger and Alana all sitting, the latter two already glaring daggers at each other.

McGonagall looked up as they entered the room.

"Good, you're here. Now, the rules. One- No magic, unless in an absolute emergency. Two- do not, under any circumstances, talk about magic anywhere where muggles can hear you. This Floo is connected to both Professor Snape's offices, and mine if you should need us for any reason. You must take care to only send owls at night, when no one might find them unusual."

Severus nodded and took over from the elderly Scottish woman.

"As for your schooling, we have enrolled you at the local high school, where you are seniors. Your classes have been decided based on the topics that you most excelled at in your final exams in Muggle Studies throughout Sixth year. For money, the three of you will each be receiving a weekly allowance, and any other money you require should be sent to you via your parents." He handed the three girls a thick envelope each.

"Here is the first of your allowances, as well as information about your classes. School commences tomorrow morning. You are to wear muggle attire at all times, however I would advise you to keep your wands concealed about your person at all times, in the interest of safety."

The three girls nodded, and after a moment of goodbyes, Professor McGonagall disapparated away. Severus stayed longer to say goodbye to Imogen and Alana. "Goodbye Alana, take care of yourself, and Imogen."

"Bye Sev. We'll be fine, I'm sure." Alana said, smiling.

Severus turned to his daughter.

"Now, Imogen- do you remember all the spells I taught you over the summer?" He asked, every inch a concerned, if not slightly paranoid father.

"Yes Dad." Imogen smirked at him.

"Good. Now, make sure you Floo often, and tell me how things are."

Imogen rolled her eyes now. "Yes Dad."

"And if you're unsure of anything, stick with Alana."

"Yes, Dad!" Imogen said, now trying not to laugh at him.

"And do you both have your talismans?" Severus asked, talking about the blood protection charms he had made both of them in their first years at Hogwarts. Imogen's was in the form of a chunky silver cuff, with a green jade dragon embedded in it, while Alana's was a blood red stone with a leather cord threaded through it, which she wore around her neck, along with an array of other trinkets she'd acquired over the years.

"Yes Dad." Imogen said, at the same time that Alana said "Yes, Sev."

"Good. Now, give your father a hug." Severus said to Imogen.

Imogen smiled and flung herself into her father's arms. "Bye dad. Love you."

"Love you too. Now, look after yourselves." He was doing quite well, keeping himself composed, considering that in the 17 years Imogen had been alive, the longest they'd been far from each other was a week, max. When she'd been a child, Severus had made sure to portkey home each night to look after her, and after she'd been accepted to Hogwarts, they'd both been just down the corridor from each other. Still, he had a feeling it would be harder on him than on her.

He smiled at his daughter again before disapparating away, leaving the girls alone.

There was silence for about three seconds, as Imogen and Alana looked at each other, and then-

"Hell yes!"

"Sweet Freedom!"

Alana and Imogen were hugging each other, jumping up and down with completely ridiculous grins on their faces. Imogen was the first to stop, turning to Alana.

"Lets go find you room."

Alana grinned further. "Oh, yeah!" and they turned and fled the room, not even glancing behind them as they left Hermione standing in the living room.

Alana ended up picking the room next to Imogen's. It had rather a larger window than Imogen's, removing it of the pokey feeling her dark haired counterpart's room had. Alana's room had a simple wooden single bed, a wooden dresser, and a wardrobe with a mirror in the door. The two of them fetched Alana's trunk from what was now Hermione's room, which was easily the smallest, and looked straight at the fence of their neighbours.

Having quickly unpacked Alana's things, the two girls went to unpack for Imogen. Imogen's room was full of strange corners, deviating dramatically from the orderly elegance of Alana's room. All of the furniture was mismatched, with a wrought iron single bed in the corner, a dark timber bookshelf, and no dresser. But a shelf running alongside one wall, and a large wardrobe that had been painted white, and for a mirror was the actual glass of a mirror itself, sans frame, leaning against the wall. They unpacked as quickly as possible once again, and then changed out of their Hogwarts uniforms.

Alana ended up wearing tight black jeans, with knee high leather boots, and a silk coral coloured top that was rather floaty, and hung off one shoulder. She touched up her makeup, fixed her hair, and pocketed her wand in the grey blazer she'd selected to wear.

Imogen, far from the sartorial elegance of her friend, had been shopping with her father over the holidays, and between the two, she had ended up with a bizarre array of clothing. She was wearing a rather flimsy looking dress that seemed to be made of any kind of floral material the seamstress could get her hands on at the time, (regardless of whether they matched) some second hand brown leather boots that reached above the knee, a thick long coat, tan suede, with large furry collars and cuffs that Alana swore she'd seen her mother wearing in pictures from the 70's. Imogen was applying some makeup and releasing her hair from the plait she'd been wearing it in. Alana rolled her eyes, knowing that if anyone else tried wearing some of the clothes Imogen wore, they'd never have pulled it off, due to the lack of sheer indifference and sense of superiority that Imogen possessed.

Alana watched silently as Imogen snatched up her rather unique wand (Ebony, twelve and a half inches, Sphinx hair, rough wood, with rather picturesque engravings along its length.) that her friend had acquired with her father the summer before they went to Hogwarts, on a specimen sourcing expedition in Egypt.

Imogen tucked her own beloved wand (dragon heartstring, cedar, 13 inches) in the inner pocket of her coat, and the two left, without a word to Hermione, who was fussing over something or other in the kitchen.

They walked around aimlessly, mostly just trying to figure out the town, and within a few hours they found themselves at a cliff, overlooking a beach, and, to their left, the ocean.

"Wow. Its really kinda pretty up here." Alana breathed. She looked around her, quickly finding something much more interesting to her than the landscape.

"Hello salty goodness!"

A group of young guys, all of whom were rather well built, and just happened to be shirtless, were standing further to their left, laughing and messing around. Then, two of them jumped off the cliff.

"Holy Shit!" Alana gasped, and then rushed over to see what had happened.

Imogen, who could have cared less about shirtless guys, hadn't seen what had happened, and therefore was thoroughly confused when Alana darted off towards them in a panicky sort of way.

Alana ran up to the group of boys. "What the hell happened? Are they ok? Why are you just standing here? Call the police or something!"

They boys stared at her for a moment, before trying and failing at not laughing.

Imogen calmly walked up to the group a second later.

"What is going on here?"

It was the closest boy who answered.

"Your friend just got a bit confused, that's all."

Alana gaped at him. "Confused? I just saw two of your friends jump off that damned cliff! Don't tell me I'm confused!"

"What?" Imogen was the one who appeared confused now. "Really?" She looked to the guy who had spoken to them for answers.

"Well, yeah, I suppose- but not how you think!" he added quickly, seeing the shocked looks on their faces. Well, the shocked look on Alana's face, and Imogen's widened eyes.

"Uh, they're alright though. We do this all the time. For, you know, fun." The boy

explained sheepishly.

Upon realising this, Imogen rolled her eyes and muttered to herself. "Muggles. Americans. Boys."

Meanwhile, Alana's eyes had taken on a certain sparkle. "Really? Cool."

Imogen knew her friend too well. "God, 'Lana. Tell me you're not serious."

Alana simply grinned at her in response. Imogen shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Give me your things, then." She said resignedly.

Alana beamed. "Love you, 'Mimi."

Imogen snorted. "Whatever."

Alana handed Imogen her boots, her coat, and emptied her pockets. She turned to the boys in excitement.

"So, how do we do this?"

The boys all grinned.

"We'd recommend a running jump, so you avoid all the sharp rocks that are jutting out." One said.

"Yeah" Another agreed. "And keep you legs straight, and your toes pointed so you don't break your legs on impact."

At this point, Imogen interrupted.

"Boys, if you're trying to scare her, it won't work. She's a Gryffindor. Stupid by nature. You're simply encouraging her."

The boys looked confused.

"What's a Gryffindor?"

Imogen replied. "Its just a thing from school in England. Don't worry."

The boys just shrugged to each other.

"Alright, ready to go?" one of them looked to Alana.

She grinned. "Am I ever!" and with that, she ran, jumped, and disappeared over the edge of the cliff.

The boys looked at Imogen to gauge her reaction. She just shrugged and said, "See? I told you she was stupid."

The boys grinned at her, and then followed Alana over the cliff.

Imogen sighed, rolled her eyes, and then settled herself on the grass, reading the information about her classes for the following day.

There was nearly $300 in the envelope, as well as a list of things needed for school, and a list of the classes she would be taking, along with a booklist for the classes.

She'd need notebooks, and pens, as well as a few of the books she'd not yet read. She was lucky that she'd read the books needed for English, and a few of the ones for history. Math she'd have no problems with, as her father kept her well up to date on that particular subject. She'd need a schoolbag. Something easy to carry around, big enough to fit her notebooks and textbooks. Imogen thought of the black leather satchel that her broom care kit came in. That would be ok, she figured. She also saw in a letter that the household would be provided with a computer in a few days, which was lucky, as she knew that muggles all typed and printed their homework assignments in school. She read over the rest of her classes, feeling a touch overwhelmed. English, French. She'd be fine with those two, as she was pretty much fluent French, thanks to the old fashioned tutor she'd had as a child. Chemistry, again, her father had made sure she was fully competent in that subject, saying that ignorance resulted in injury or death. She wasn't entirely sure what 'Gym' was, and she hoped she'd manage ok in that. Math she'd be fine in, and History was something of a passion of hers, so she was fairly certain she'd manage just fine in that class.

Imogen looked up as she heard voices approaching, and she saw Alana, soaking wet, shamelessly flirting with one of the boys. Alana saw her, and ran over.

"'Mimi! Quil's invited us over to lunch at his place. Do you wanna come?"

Imogen smiled and handed her friend back her things.

"I'd love to, but I think I'm gonna go get the stuff I need for school tomorrow. Books and things. Maybe another time, but thanks for the invitation." She said to the one Alana was flirting with, assuming he was Quil.

"No problem, yeah. See you around then." Quil said, smiling at her, then running back over to his friends. Alana grinned at her friend, gave her a quick hug and an enthusiastic "See you back at home, yeah?" before rushing over to the group of boys.

Imogen smiled and nodded at her friend, and then walked back in the direction she'd come from, knowing she'd seen a few shops on the way over. She'd been walking for about an hour, when she saw the first of the shops ahead. It was a small camping store, and as she was walking past, she was almost run over by a ridiculously noisy old red truck. She jumped back, giving the driver a Snape family glare (patent pending). The driver, a girl about her own age, did not appear to notice. Imogen noticed that she was crying. Well, that explained the poor driving.

Imogen walked on, finally coming to a grocery store, and a few other little shops, a bookstore included. She walked into the grocery store, and located the stationary section. She grabbed a few plain notepads and a few pens and pencils, as well as a checked cloth pencil case. She walked over to the counter and stood behind the man that was in line, talking to the man behind the register.

"I'm telling you, Earl, that Cullen boy's no good to her." The man in the line was saying. "Charlie keeps coming home finding the poor kid in tears. He's doing his head in."

Imogen shook her head. Small town gossip. There was nothing like it.

Imogen paid for her things after the man left, with a smile at Earl. She then went to the bookstore and bought what books they had that were on her booklist, as well as a few that caught her eye. One of her schoolbooks, for history, looked particularly interesting, about the War of Independence.

She walked home, feeling quite proud of herself for having successfully completed her first solo muggle shopping expedition.

She arrived home at around 4pm, and went straight to her room. She unpacked a few more of her things, her books went into the bookshelf, her broom rested on the shelf along the wall, along with a quaffle, she put a few of her photos up on the wall. A picture of her father, one of her and Alana, and one of Draco, Blaise, Alana and Imogen together, when Alana had won a bet against the lot of them. As her prize, she'd dolled them all up and proceeded to make them into fashion models for the night. The picture was quite good, to be honest, but the looks on all of their faces was what made the picture priceless. The three Slytherins clearly just wanted to be shot dead, just to end the humiliation, while Alana's face was pure glee. Imogen always laughed at that picture.

She pulled out her 'CD player' that Alana and herself had made over the summer. It had been a crystal to begin with, which Alana had charmed so that if you placed it on top of a CD or a record and activated it, it would play. They'd then transfigured it to look and operate more like a CD player, just to complete the illusion. The few CDs Imogen owned then went next to it. Imogen had always had rather obscure taste in music, even by muggle standards.

She then went to sort out her school supplies. She unwrapped the notebooks and the pens, and then went and grabbed her Broom Care Kit out of her trunk. The leather satchel had seen better days by now, but Imogen didn't mind. She emptied the bag of its contents, packing them into an old shoebox, and then checked that the bag was large enough to use for school. It was. She continued unpacking, and pulled out her Slytherin Quidditch robes. She'd only been Reserve Keeper, but she was sad that even though she'd be back at Hogwarts in six months, she'd be replaced on the team. She'd never play for Slytherin again. She was a bit sad at that, and lovingly looked at the crest on the robes. She'd never be able to proudly bear that chest again. Then she looked at her new school bag. Maybe not. A few severing charms and an adherence charm later, and Imogen's schoolbag was adorned with the Slytherin Quidditch crest that she loved so dearly.

Everything was basically unpacked now, so Imogen had a shower, and settled down with her new history book, before drifting off to sleep.

The rest of Alana's day was less restful. After saying goodbye to Imogen, they'd hung out around the town for a while, having lunch at Quil's place. They'd invited her to go to a campfire thing that seemed to be a bit of a tradition for her. They warned her that the place they were going was a bit out of they way, so walking would take a while, but Alana assured them that she'd be fine. Once they began walking, she trailed a little way behind the guys, taking a moment to figure them out a little. She'd always had a knack for judging people, mostly from her Gift, passed down to her by her mother. It wasn't the full Sight, like Elspeth, but it was enough to make her have a good or bad feeling about people, places, things or events.

It was strange then that she wasn't getting much from the guys, but she could tell that there was a strong bond between them, almost like they were one massive, living entity all together. And for some strange reason, she kept thinking of Harry.

She looked at the smallest of the group, Embry. He was tall, and well built for his age, but he didn't have the sheer bulk of the others just yet. He had fine features, and almost clear brown eyes. He seemed less harsh than the others, aura-wise. He seemed to be carrying some huge burden that he couldn't unload to anyone. Alana immediately knew they'd get along, that they could be friends, that he'd tell her what was bothering him, if she could just get him to trust her.

The other boy, Quil, was considerably larger, but there was a peace emanating from him that Alana couldn't understand. They boys were laughing at something, and Alana realised she hadn't contributed to the conversation in a while.

"So, where's Claire today?" Embry asked. Alana caught the flash of pain that flew over his face when he mentioned the name.

"She's with her mum today, going to talk to some people about school for next year. She'll be over later though, they're both coming to the campfire, so I can give her the present I made." Quil smiled warmly at the thought. "I hope she'll like it."

"She always likes your presents, Quil. I don't know why you even worry about that anymore." One of the other boys, Jacob, said.

"Anyway, our new friend's left out." Embry said, changing the subject quickly. He turned to Alana. "So, Alana, why haven't we met before, and when did you develop a death wish?"

She laughed, and shot the boy a smile.

"I'm from England, which is why we've not met before. I'm on exchange with two other girls from my school. You already met Imogen. And we're here for six months, but today's our first day here. Its pretty cool."

"It really is our first day, if you think Forks is 'pretty cool'." Quil said with a grin.

"Oh come on, its alright, isn't it? There's gotta be stuff to do here. What's the school like?" Alana asked.

"Well, Forks High is ok. A typical American Institution, blocks of buildings all numbered, you know. Pleasant and stuff." Embry said, shrugging. "On the res, though.."

"The res?" Alana asked, scrunching her nose in confusion.

"Reservation." Embry clarified.

"Oh. Right. And segregation is over, you say?" She asked cheekily, giving them a grin to let them know she didn't really mean it.

"It's not like that. We're just protective of our turf." Embry said.

Alana smiled wryly. "Ah. A territorial breed, I see." The boys chuckled, and they walked on companionably for a few moments when Alana spoke up again.

"So, where are we going?" She could see a small house a way up ahead, and hoped that was where they were going, as she was starting to shiver from the cool breeze, walking as she was in wet clothes.

Jacob spoke up. "That's Emily's place." He said pointing to the house. "We have a campfire every Thursday for people from the tribe to come along. Its cool."

Alana smiled nervously. "So, I'm not gonna be unwelcome or anything? I don't wanna intrude."

"Nah, its cool. People come along, friends and stuff. You'll be fine." Quil said grinning in his calm, confident way.

Alana smiled at him thankfully. "So, who's gonna be there then?"

"Sam, Emily, Paul, Jake, me and Quil, obviously. Seth and Leah, Claire and her mom. Probably the elders.. Is Bella coming?" Embry said, turning to Jacob.

"No. She's with the Bl- With Cullen tonight." Jacob replied tersely. Alana was a little surprised at how quickly the happy young man had turned surly.

"That sucks man. But still, more food for us." Embry turned back to Alana. "We'll introduce you to everyone as they show up."

"Cool. So, is Bella Jacob's-?" She started to ask, but Embry anticipated her question.

"Nah, she's dating this guy from the town, Edward Cullen. You'll probably see him at school tomorrow. She's Jake's best friend, and they've known each other since they were kids. Bella lived in Phoenix for most of her life, but she moved back to Forks a couple of years ago now. Jake's way in love with her-" Embry had to duck as Jake swung half-playfully for his head "but she's in love with Cullen. Jake and Cullen naturally hate each other. Thing is, Cullen up and left her last year, for like, months. Bella was in a pretty bad state, but she was still in love with the posh bastard. Jake looked after Bella the whole time, but then the minute Cullen came back, she just went back to him, like it was all ok again. It totally broke Jake's heart. They're still friends though, secretly, cos Cullen doesn't want her to hang with Jake. She comes round mostly when they're fighting, and that seems to be way more often these days."

Alana looked round at Jacob to see if he was ok with Embry telling her all this, but he was walking stiffly with his hands in his pockets, staring straight ahead, with a furrowed brow.

"She sounds kind of.. Selfish." Alana said. "And a little stupid, if you don't mind me saying."

Embry shrugged, but it was Jacob who spoke up.

"No, Bella's not like that. She's smart, and selfless, and brave.. She's just really torn. I know she doesn't feel the same for me, but I still want to be friends with her, so it's my own fault I get all cut up over her every time I see her. And Bella's nice, she really does care about me, but she just doesn't see properly where Cullen's concerned. She stops seeing things realistically."

Alana impulsively gave Jacob a quick one-armed hug in solidarity, and realised he was running one hell of a fever. "So, I'm not obliged to hate her for you or anything?"

Jacob looked down at her. "Not at all. Bella's awesome. I think you'll actually like her, when you meet her at school."

They were approaching the house now, and the sun had begun to set. She could hear music and voices, and she could smell roasting meat.

"Looks like some people are here already." Embry said, grabbing her by the hand and leading her round the back of the house to introduce her to people. She saw a small deck with a barbeque cooking, a tall dark haired man chatting to and older couple watching over the food. A large bonfire was just starting to burn, with a large circle of chairs and seats surrounding it. A young boy looked up as they entered, grinning as he stood and came towards them. An older girl was sitting a way back, sipping a coke chatting unenthusiastically to another girl her own age, who was beautiful, except for the long harsh scar down the side of her face.

"Over by the fireplace is Sam Uley, this is his place. And the girl over there, with the long hair," Embry said quietly, indicating the girl with the scar "is Emily, his girlfriend. They both live here, but don't stare at her, Sam doesn't like it. Emily's talking to Leah Clearwater, and Sam's talking to her parents."

"Hey Embry! Hi Jake! Hi Quil! Who's this?" The boy had finally reached them.  
"Hi Seth." Embry said warmly. "This is Seth Clearwater, Leah's little brother. Seth, this is Alana.. What's your last name?" Embry asked Alana.

"Wilde." Alana supplied. "Nice to meet you Seth." Alana held out a hand for the boy to shake. He did so, looking sceptically between herself and Embry.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Seth asked, clearly suspecting something.

Alana grinned widely, looping her arm through Embry's.

"Oh, we just met today. We're thinking of running away together." She said, putting on a dreamy, ditzy voice she's often heard Lavender Brown use at school around whatever poor boy she's managed to ensnare that week.

Seth's eyes widened, and he looked at them both like they were mental.

"Really?"

Embry snorted and thumped the boy over the back of the head. "No, you moron. She's just new in town; we met up at the cliffs. She's hanging around with us. That's all. Seriously, how gullible are you?"

Seth and Embry began playfully fighting with each other, and Alana walked over to where Jake and Quil were talking to the man Embry had introduced as Sam, and another man who'd just turned up.

"Hi." She said, walking up to them.

"Hey. Uh, Sam, Paul, this is Alana. She's a new convert to the sport of Cliff Diving." Jake said with a grin.

Alana rolled her eyes at him. "So, do girls here not do anything fun, or something?"

"Well, they don't go cliff diving. And they don't call it fun." The new guy- Paul said.

"Well, that's a bit lame. At school, there was this turret, about 15 feet above the lake. We used to hurl ourselves off that all the time. Even the girls. First year girls. What's that say about the female population of La Push?" Alana speculated.

"Hey- Bella's gone cliff diving before!" Jacob defended.

"But she's not a La Push girl." Alana reminded him.

"She's an honorary La Push girl." Jacob tried again.

"And even then, it wasn't really cliff diving. It was more a disaster." Sam laughed.

Jake and Paul joined in the laughter, when there was the rumble of an ancient engine from around the front of the house. Jacob stopped laughing at the sound, and his face took on a conflicted expression, half concern, and half happiness.

"Speak of the devil." Sam said. "Go on then." He said to Jake, who, without a further moment passing, sped round to the front of the house.

"Bella, I'm assuming?" Alana asked, talking the can of coke Quil was holding out to her.

"The one and only. Cullen must have done something again."

"I see." Sure enough, she saw Jake leading a girl, roughly her own age, to a seat further back from the fire. The girl was pretty, with long dark hair and pale skin. She was clearly crying, and Alana felt her heart lurch in sympathy for the girl, and the pain she was clearly in. Alana studied the two, and she could tell the Jake was truly in love with her, but was trying to simply be a good friend when she needed one. The girl herself was, from what Alana could see with her Sight, a truly good person. She was everything that Jacob had said she was, and Alana could also see a line right through her aura that caused the two sides to constantly battle. The poor thing was so confused.

The girl was, frankly, beautiful, both inside and out, and while at the moment a heartbreaking sight, Alana was struggling to tear her eyes away. She watched as Jake and Bella stood and walked back towards the beach, deep in conversation, and disappeared into the distance.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by another rumbling; this time thunder, and rain began pouring down around them.

"Damn." Quil said, smiling apologetically at her. "Rain means the party's cancelled. Sorry man. But next week, Thursday, we'll all be here, and you're welcome to join."

Alana nodded and smiled. "For sure. If I don't kill myself doing some stupid thing you guys take for fun here." Alana pulled her blazer on, preparing to walk out of sight so she could apparate home.

"Well, I guess I'll catch you guys later then?" Alana said. "You know Grey Street? We're number 12. You guys should come visit some time."

"Hey! You're not just gonna walk all the way back to town are you?" Embry asked, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"No way! It's too far! Sam'll give us a lift! Just come with us!" Embry grabbed her hand again and started pulling her towards the big black rusting truck that was to the side of the house.

"Really though, it's too far! I don't want to be a bother." Alana said, knowing she could be home in seconds if they'd just let her go.

But it was no use, and she was driven home. Half an hour later, as she crawled into bed, she couldn't get Bella Swan's face out of her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

_I know its short, but the next chapter should be up real soon. So for now, please enjoy!_

_ -Sam & Case._

_`*`_

That next morning, Imogen awoke to the sounds of arguing.

"Listen Granger! We have about 20 minutes left to get ready for school, and so far you've spent about double that in the bathroom! There are other people in the house who need to shower! Hurry up!" Alana's angry voice drifted down the hallway.

Imogen sighed, hoping that this was not a sign of the day to come. She got out of bed and quietly went to the kitchen to make herself a large mug of coffee. She took it back to her bedroom with her, passing Granger, who was angrily stomping back to her own bedroom, her hair filled with a multitude of hair care products in an attempt to make it a bit nicer. Imogen drank her coffee while laying out the clothes she intended to wear that day. Alana soon walked into her room showered, dressed and made-up for the day. Alana was wearing a pair of tight black jeans, a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and her usual array of necklaces and charms around her neck.

"You know we only have about ten minutes before we gotta be out of here." Alana grinned at Imogen.

Imogen sculled the rest of her hot coffee, ignoring how it burnt all the way down her throat, and rushed into the shower. She washed quickly, brushed her teeth and dashed back into her room to dress. She emerged from her room roughly eight minutes later, in a pair of tight faded black jeans, a thin worn white t-shirt that was a few sizes too large, a pair of black leather boots that went over her jeans, and a large cardigan that was striped in khaki green, mustard yellow and red. She grabbed some old sunglasses off the dresser, and her black leather satchel, before applying a quick layer of make-up, and her and Alana dashed out of the house, just behind an angry Hermione Granger.

"Now, I know that neither of you would have had any experience with muggles so you need to be careful!" Granger had yelled at the pair the moment they set foot outside the house. "Muggles are much smarter than you would give them credit for, so you can't simply look down on them all the time." This second part was directed rather pointedly at Imogen who had been steadfastly ignoring the brunette throughout the rant. Alana, however didn't have so much willpower. "Oh, come on Granger, how hard could it be? Just have to remember about Fellytones and Teleview, we'll be fine" Alana snuck a look at the girl's outraged expression, and burst into a grin, grabbed Imogen's hand and took off towards the school with Granger still yelling about the dangers of exposing the Wizarding world as she chased after them.

Having arrived at Forks High School, the girls concluded that it looked just like any other American educational institution, right down to the red brick buildings with white numbers. They took a moment to inspect it properly, but found nothing worth mentioning.

Imogen sighed at how mundane it was, especially compared to Hogwarts, although anywhere was mundane compared to Hogwarts. "Ok, 'Lana, we need to find the administration building. We're supposed to sign in, and then we're having a chat with the principal, Mr Greene." She made a face at this, knowing that the comversation would be filled with the same overused pleasantries and platitudes. Lots of 'My door is always open' and 'I want you to think of me, not just as your principal, but as your friend.'

"So, how much d'ya wanna bet that the admin building is building 1?" Alana said, smirking at her friend.

"No money. Also, no bets. Trust me, I've learnt my lesson." Imogen shuddered, thinking of that god awful photo shoot that Alana had made herself, Blaise and Draco do the last time they lost a bet to her.

"You're still having photo shoot flashbacks, aren't you?" Alana giggled, and Imogen's glare only made her more hysterical.

They walked into the administration building, which, incidentally, was building number 1, without Hermione, who they had left inspecting her guidebook, entitled "Forks: The friendliest small town in Washington State!"

They were shown into the Principal's office by the secretary, a sweet lady who offered them a cookie while they were waiting. Munching on their cookies, they sat in silence, looking around the overly cheery office, at the tacky "Hang in there!" kitten posters, and a framed poem. A plastic fern in the corner topped off the atmosphere of the overly optimistic educational administrator, who probably used buzz words like "enabler" and other such drivel.

The principal himself, Mr Greene arrived a few moments later, with Granger, who seemed a little grumpy that they'd arrived before, or possibly just without, her.

"Hello there! I'm Mr Greene, your principal, but I want you to call me Bob." The principal was a middle age-ish man who was going a touch bald.

"Imogen Snape." Imogen shook the man's hand firmly, and introduced herself with a totally straight face.

"Alana Wilde." Alana offered the man a smile as she shook his hand, but didn't offer too much more, word-wise.

"I'm Hermione Granger. I've been reading up what I could find about your school, and I hear that you all perform very well in terms of your science results. I was wondering if I might be able to speak to come of the teachers and inspect the class plans?" Hermione was pumping the man's hand up and down, as he tried to get a word in edgeways.

It only got worse from there.

All Imogen's predictions about the meeting were realised, although the Principal wasn't quite as nauseating as he could have been, mostly due to the fact that Granger was disturbing the poor man with her scarily enthusiastic in-control-twenty-four-hours-a-day-seven-days-a-week schtick.

They were given a few brochures and pamphlets about the school and the town to look through, and the teacher was then frog marching them towards the school cafeteria, where, according to his calculations, the rest of the school population were currently having lunch.


	4. Chapter 4

_Finally the girls meet the Cullens! Hooray!_

_ -S & C_

From their usual spots in the cafeteria the Cullen/Hale family could see the entire school's reaction as Mr Greene led the three girls in through the main doors, and began his introductions to the school.

Fork's High's new exchange students had caused more of a stir than even Bella had the previous year.

Edward had heard nothing but speculation about the English girls from the elite boarding school in Scotland, and the female students were set to jump at the first sign of them to ensure their own place in the precarious popularity stakes of the student body. Jessica was leading the charge, having brushed up on as much English slang as she could to show how she could 'relate', and for Edward, the thoughts of the male population were actually a relief, seeing as they were basically wondering whether or not the new students would be hot or not.

It wasn't until Alice asked about the new girls that Edward remembered he was supposed to be paying attention to see if anything was up with them. He quickly turned his attention towards the girls, ignoring the speech Mr Greene was currently giving. The first girl was a bushy haired brunette, who was busy planning a presentation she was going to give her 'Muggle Studies' class when she got home. It was a strange kind of presentation from the sounds of things, seeing as she was hoping to bring in a toaster to show the class. He decided that other than her being hyper-attentive to the day-to-day life of an American high school student, she was pretty harmless. The next girl to cross Edward's line of sight was the blonde, this one giving off strong 'vibes' and a few scattered words and half sentences, mostly to do with the scenery, and he saw brief flashes of faces in the cafeteria from her perspective as she looked around the room. He attributed her 'fuzzy reception' as it were, to him simply not being attuned to her properly yet, and it was a large room with hundreds of other thoughts vying for his attention. Still, the blonde wasn't thinking anything that set off warning bells for Edward, and so he turned his attention to the last girl, who was standing further back than the other two girls, watching proceedings with a vaguely bored expression. Edward focused in on her, and then realised what felt so wrong at that particular moment- he couldn't hear a thing. Not a single thought. Just like Bella, although, he ruminated, at least with Bella he could tell that there were actually thoughts going through her mind, he just couldn't hear them. With this new girl, it was like she was totally blank, even though he knew that that wasn't actually possible. He was about to say something to his siblings, when the blonde girl spotted them, or more specifically, spotted Bella, grabbed the thoughtless dark haired one and led her over to their table, and to his amusement, completely ignoring Jessica who had tried to get their attention.

"Hi!" the blonde said energetically, eyes not really leaving Bella, although she did glance round the table somewhat. "I'm Alana Wilde." She introduced herself. "I saw you at that barbeque at Emily's place, right?" she said to Bella.

Edward couldn't help the look he sent Bella's way at hearing she'd been to see those wolves behind his back again.

Bella smiled shyly, flinching slightly at the girls slip. "Uh, maybe, yeah. I'm Bella Swan. This is my boyfriend Edward Cullen." Edward inclined his head in greeting, but was now focusing wholly on trying to get a read on the dark haired friend, even though he knew it'd only give him a headache.

Bella continued her introductions, since no one else at the table seemed to want to speak at that point in time. "This is Edward's sister Alice, and her boyfriend, Jasper Hale."

Alice smiled warmly at the two girls and invited them to sit down. Alana smiled back, and sat, and the dark haired one followed suit, although more slowly.

"So, you never introduced yourself." Alice said to the dark haired girl, who, while not exactly scowling and miserable, wasn't as exuberant as her blonde friend.

"Oh, excuse me, I'm a touch jet-lagged. I'm Imogen Snape." The dark haired girl, Imogen extended a hand to Alice, which she shook.

"Nice to meet you Imogen." Alice smiled, and was about to say something else, when the bell rang. 'Oh, class. What do you two have next?"

The foreigners checked their timetables. "Well, I've got biology." Alana said, and Bella smiled softly. "That's with us." She said, indicating herself and Edward. Edward himself wasn't paying much attention, his gaze fixed firmly to the side of Imogen's head, still determined that he was going to be able to read something from her if he could focus well enough for long enough. Upon hearing his name, Edward snapped back to reality. No one noticed as Imogen's shoulders relaxed, and her fists loosened from their white-knuckled position.

"What?" he asked.

"We've got biology now, with Alana." Bella said, giving Edward a confused look.

"Oh, I see." He said, and stood, helping Bella out of her seat before picking his bag up off the floor.

"Coming?" Bella asked Alana with a smile.

"Naturally." Alana grinned, grabbed her bag and looped her arm through Bella's free one. "Lead the way!"

Bella laughed softly as they walked away.

Alice returned her attention to Imogen, trying to shake the strange half-vision that'd been playing on a loop since the girl's had walked into the cafeteria. It was bizarre, a strange cryptic amalgamation of images, the clearest of which was a strange green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth that was floating in the night sky. Whatever it meant, it was giving Alice the chills.

"So, what do you have now?" Jasper asked, speaking up to distract Imogen from Alice's behaviour.

"Uh, history." Imogen said, and as she spoke, Alice was flooded with a new set of cryptic images, a huge old castle set atop a cliff, red snake eyes.. and blood..

"Alice and I have history now, actually. We'll show you the way." Jasper was saying, as he stood, and picked up both his and Alice's bags.

"Actually, sweetie, I might sit the class out. I have the worst _headache_ at the moment." Alice said, turning to Jasper. If Imogen noticed that the word headache was clearly meaning something else, she didn't show it. Luckily Jasper caught her meaning, and nodded.

"Of course. Are you going to go home, or will I meet you back here for the free period?" he asked.

"Oh, I'll meet you back here. Now go, or you'll be late. I just need to relax." Alice said.

Jasper nodded, and kissed Alice softly on the forehead before handing her back her bag. Alice smiled, and headed for the exit of the cafeteria. Jasper turned back to Imogen.

"Class is this way, follow me."

They'd been sitting quietly in history for nearly the entire lesson, and Imogen's mind had drifted back to that God-awful Edward and his incessant nagging at her mind, trying to get past her mental barriers. It'd given her a serious headache, and put her in a distinctly bad mood, despite how nice everyone else was being that day. So when Mr Oswald, the substitute teacher, called on her with a question, she was rather abrupt.

"Miss Snape, our new girl. Can you tell me what the reasons were behind American Civil War?" The teacher, a slimy kinda guy smirked at her, clearly expecting her, a British girl not to know the answer, and that made her already bad mood worse.

"The South was opposed to uniting all the States under one central government." She said flatly, not even looking up from her page of notes.

The slimy Mr Oswald's smirk grew more. "Wrong."

At that, Imogen did look up from her book, and looked at the teacher coldly, trying her hardest not to glare at the man.

"Excuse me?" she said icily.

"The American Civil War," Mr Oswald said glibly "was about abolishing slavery." And to put a cherry on it, he shot Imogen a smug look.

And then she really did glare at him.

"Actually sir, Imogen's right."

Mr Oswald shot a surprised look at Jasper, who was sitting next to Imogen.

"Excuse me?" the teacher asked.

"Well, the abolition of slavery was more a result of the Civil War, rather than being a cause of it, although I will grant you that John Brown's movement was happening shortly before the war began, and it helped to raise tension between the North and the South. But the fact remains that while some Confederate leaders were definitely pro-slavery, most were opposed to it, just as some officers fighting for the North were also pro-slavery. In fact, General Lee, one of the most prominent of the Confederate leaders was strongly opposed to slavery, but he agreed to lead the Confederates because he couldn't bring himself to fight against his home state, Carolina." Jasper finished calmly.

All eyes turned to Jasper in shock, while he just sat unobtrusively, but with the utmost confidence, and his eyes met Imogen's in conspiratorial glee. Imogen decided then and there that Jasper was a friend of hers.

She flashed him a quick grin as the teacher fumbled uselessly for any shred of integrity or dignity that might be left, but he ultimately gave up and dismissed the class early and left, hopefully to resign as a teacher and resume his studies.

Meanwhile, heading to Biology class, Alana and Bella were chatting about the details of the British girl's visit.

"We're here for 6 months, and then we're back home to, well, Scotland, which I suppose isn't really home, but its close enough. Hogwarts is just about home for most of us anyway. But it's great being here! I'll admit that the weather is pretty similar to home though. But we have our own house here and everything! Although we do have to share it with Granger." Alana muttered that last part.

"Won't you miss too many classes being here? Will you have to repeat or anything?" Bella asked.

Alana smiled. "Nah, we got picked to come here on the basis of our academic abilities, so it won't make much of a difference. Granger could miss pretty much an entire year and the teacher's wouldn't say a word, Mimi's done basically all the work for the year anyway, so that's not really an issue, plus her dad's one of our teachers, so anything she misses out on, he can catch her up on, and I'm pretty good at the whole school thing myself, so none of its really a problem." Alana shrugged, knowing that Dumbledore wouldn't let them go on this trip if it meant repeating a year.

"And what about your friends? And your family? Won't you miss them?" Bella asked her, interested in Alana for some reason.

"Oh, well of course! But we're allowed to have friends over, so we'll get to see Drake and Blaise while we're here, and as for mum, well, we're at boarding school, so its normal communicating mainly through letters and phone calls." Alana informed the petite brunette.

"You've got friends visiting from England?" Bella asked skeptically.

"It's a pretty rich school. We've, uh, got a jet." Alana tried to cover, trying to think of a plausible way that a school might allow for an expensive flight for students to visit friends in foreign countries over weekends.

"Wow. That's a really rich school." Bella mused for a moment. "So, your friends are Imogen, Drake and Blaise?"

Alana smiled. "Yeah. Me and Mimi have been friends since the womb, basically, and Draco and Blaise came about in our first year of Hogwarts. You'll like them, I think. They're a little intimidating at first, but they're just big softies. Draco's even paler than Edward here." Alana joked. She missed the look Edward and Bella shared that spelt the question, 'did the new girl know what she was saying?'

Edward quickly delved into Alana's head, despite the headache he'd gained himself trying to get into Imogen's head, and he saw a fleeting image of a pale blonde boy, and then himself, and then Bella's image.

"Are you guys ok?" Alana asked, looking between the two. They'd stopped out the front of the Biology room. "Is this our class?"

"Um, yeah, it is. Mr Banner will probably want you to introduce yourself to everyone though." Bella explained apologetically. Clearly the idea of public speaking was like hell to her.

"That's ok. Save me a seat though?" Alana smiled, she herself having no such problem with speaking in front of people.

The rest of the class filed in and took their seats, and finally Mr Banner turned up, and as predicted, he had Alana introduce herself.

"Hi. I'm Alana Wilde, I'm 17, British, I'm here on exchange for 6 months.. What else? Oh! We're gonna have a house warming party this weekend, at our new place, 11 Grey Street, and you're all invited! That's about it." Alana grinned as the class cheered her announcement. Mr Banner let the noise die down before he indicated that Alana could sit "It looks like Miss Swan and Mr Cullen have saved you a seat" Alana skipped over to sit by Bella as the class exchanged stunned looks and mutterings of "Bella and Edward?" "She's sitting with _them_?"

In the time it took Mr Banner to gather his wits, Alana noticed Jessica whispering not so subtly in front of their table, and she saw Edward shoot the girl the same annoyed look that Imogen had shot Edward earlier. Finally Mr Banner got the class' attention, and set them to work. Alana found herself more interested in the brunette beside her than the respiratory system of the mosquito, and as a result she found that she'd missed most of the lesson when the bell signalling the end of class roused her from her thoughts.

Imogen and Jasper walked back to the cafeteria together, debating the politics of the American South vs. the North, and when they approached Alice's table, she gave them both a wide grin.

"Well look at you two, getting along like a house on fire." Alice grinned.

"Well, I'd agree with you, but I tend to see houses on fire as a bad thing." Imogen deadpanned as she sat at the table.

Alice's laugh filled the mostly empty room. "How was class? Did I miss anything important?" she asked.

"Well, there was a slight discussion with the teacher." Jasper said simply, shrugging.

"Oh? What kinda discussion?" Alice asked.

Imogen smirked. "Jasper basically caused him to retire early. At least, I hope he retires early."

"Jazz? What did you do to him?" Alice asked, shocked.

"He decided he was going to make an example of Imogen. Not even that really, just wanted to embarrass her so he could look smart for the class. Only she got the answer right, and then he tried to correct her, so I corrected him. It wasn't anything major." Jasper shrugged again.

Imogen grinned. "It was pretty awesome though."

Jasper grinned in reply.

"Hey guys." A voice interrupted the silence, and Imogen looked up to see Bella and Alana sitting at the table.

"Hi." Alice, Jasper and Imogen said in unison.

"So Mimi, how was your first class?" Alana asked.

"Interesting." Imogen shared a look with Jasper again.

"Oh. Cool. Well, I organised a party at our place for Saturday night." Alana said quickly, wanting to get it over with so that she could deal with Imogen sooner rather than later.

"You did what?" Imogen's voice was quiet, but cool.

"You heard me." Alana's voice was calm, but she scooted her chair back a bit regardless.

"A party." Imogen's voice had not changed.

"Yep." Alana affirmed.

"At our house."

"Uh-huh."

"Why?"

"Well, I dunno. It seemed like a good way to get to know everyone here, make some friends, settle in. You know, a housewarming." Alana said.

"I see. And I assume you have no intentions of cancelling this party, right?" Imogen was pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Well, I've already invited people.." Alana trailed off.

Imogen sighed. "Merlin save me from impulsive Gryffindors."

Alana grinned, knowing that she'd won the argument. "You'll be glad, you watch. Besides, you'll have Drake and Blaise there."

Imogen sighed again. "A small mercy." But the curl at the corners of her mouth alerted the table that she wasn't as angry as she was acting.

Alice perked up at this point. "A party? Can I help decorate? What are you planning to wear? Bella, you'll have to come over early so I can get you ready."

Bella groaned. "Alice, I can get myself ready."

"But Bella, it makes me so happy! Please?" Alice pouted comically.

Bella smiled. "Fine. Just don't go overboard, ok?"

"I promise." Alice grinned. "So, where's Edward?"

"He went for a walk. He said he had a headache." Bella shrugged.

"Oh. He's coming back later though? I need to talk to him." Alice asked, thinking of the disturbing visions she was still having. None of it made sense.

Bella shrugged. "Probably. He's got my keys, so hopefully."

They all sat, chatting for a while, the Forks residents asking the Englanders about their home country, their lives, and their old school.

"Hey Mimi, tell them about the ghosts!" Alana grinned.

Imogen smiled back at her friend. "Which one?"

Alana was about to answer, but Bella interjected.

"You have ghosts at your school?"

Imogen nodded. "Yeah. Four main ones, and a poltergeist. But there are a few who just like hanging around Hogwarts." She said. And then added as an afterthought. "Apparently."

It was at that moment that Edward Cullen returned to the cafeteria.

"Edward! Imogen was about to tell us a ghost story. Apparently her school has ghosts hanging around." Bella said, grinning up at her boyfriend.

"Really. Ghosts?" Edward asked sceptically, his bad mood making him meaner than he had intended to be. But it was too late. Imogen's eyes narrowed in his direction, and the look in her eyes grew colder.

"They're just stories, Cullen. Traditions of our school. They can't hurt you, if that's what you're worried about." Imogen muttered that last part, but Edward heard her anyway.

"Of course I'm not worried about it. I know that ghosts aren't real, and honestly, even if they were, I'm sure I could hold my own against one." Edward scoffed.

Imogen's voice had taken on the icy tone of her father's, a sure sign that she was mad. She grimaced as she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to get rid of the throbbing headache that Edward's constant attempts at mind invasion had caused her.

"What makes you so certain?" Imogen asked, wishing Peeves would appear suddenly, and do something awful to the arrogant individual sitting across from her.

Edward smiled to himself. "I've been in a few fights, and I'm still here. I'm pretty sure a ghost wouldn't do too much damage."

Imogen scowled. "More's the pity."

Edward opened is mouth to reply, but Alana cut him off.

"Anyway, We should be organising this party. What do you think, should there be alcohol or what?"

Imogen sighed. "Alcohol. Lots of alcohol. I'm not going to be locked into a house with a heap of hormonal teenagers without social lubrication."

Now it was Alana's turn to sigh. "Mimi, you know you've got to get over this dislike of people."

"I don't dislike people. I dislike fools." Imogen said, her face now blank. She began packing her things into her bag.

"Mimi, seriously. Chill. What's wrong?" Alana asked, disturbed by her friend's behaviour. Imogen sighed, putting her bag back down. She sighed, and rubbed her temples. "Nothing. Sorry." In reality, her head felt like it was about to burst from Edward Cullen's constant nagging and probing at her mind, and she was in a vile mood. She was just glad that the day was almost over.

Alana was looking back and forward between Imogen and Edward. She'd known that Imogen had a fairly short fuse with strangers, but she'd been getting along so well with Alice, Jasper and Bella. The last time she'd seen Imogen take such an instant dislike to someone was with Cho Chang, and that actually had a reason. Normally Imogen didn't descend into an actual fight, she just ignored whoever had annoyed her. This was just bizarre.

She was broken out of her thoughts by Jasper excusing himself, wearing a strange, tense expression. She chatted to Bella and Alice for a while, trying to cover the awkward tension that Imogen and Edward's fight had created. She was actually grateful when the bell rang for the next class, and she grabbed her things after discovering she had math with Bella and Alice next. She was relieved for all of about five seconds, until it was discovered that both Edward and Imogen had French class. The three girls walked away quickly, leaving the two scowling at each other.

"That was weird." Bella said, looking to Alana.

"Yeah. Normally Imogen's not so touchy." Alana said, half apologising for her friend's behaviour.

"Yeah, Edward too. Wonder what's eating them?" Bella asked herself, turning back to see the two in question walking away, studiously not acknowledging the other's presence.

Alana sighed, making a note to grill her best friend on what exactly was going through her mind. But for now, she had bigger issues to deal with. She had to figure out what exactly 'proofs' were, and why 'proof' was even necessary in the first place.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey! So we're gonna have another go at this story. Wish us luck! And please, please review? It helps rather a lot with the motivation for writing._

~Sam & Case.

When Imogen finally got home from school that day, she was in dire need of a drink. She threw her bag onto her bed, and gave a sigh, rubbing her temples. That Edward Cullen seemed like he was put on this Earth to infuriate her. Every time he was in the room with her, he was nagging at her mind, and keeping her mental shields up like that all day was bloody tiring. She didn't even have the energy to consider how he could actually read minds in the first place, as she was pretty sure he wasn't a Wizard. She had a feeling she'd missed some important clue at school today, one that would make Cullen make more sense to her, and the feeling of frustration was not improving her mood any. Imogen sighed again and walked over to her trunk, digging around until she found a pain-relieving potion. She downed it in one, and decided that she needed that drink. She grabbed a small leather purse from her trunk at threw some money inside it. As she stalked out the door, Granger was entering.  
"Oh! Uh… Imogen?" Granger asked, clearly unsure as to how to address Imogen.  
"Yes?" Imogen turned to face the Gryffindor. She had no particular problems with Granger, unless the girl decided to start another fight with Alana or herself, so she was willing to be cordial while they were sharing a house.

"I was thinking, today, that Jessica girl wanted to get my cell phone number, and, well, she seemed rather shocked that I didn't have one. I thought about it and realised she's right. So, I've bought myself one, and I don't know if you've thought about it, but maybe, just for appearances sake…" Granger trailed off, but Imogen could see that she did indeed have a point.

"You're right. I'll pick one up for myself while I'm out, and I'll let Alana know when she gets back as well." Imogen nodded at Granger as a farewell, and left the house, her key in hand.  
It didn't take her too long to find the shops, and found an electronic store where the salesman helped her pick out a phone for herself, and showed her how to activate it. She'd purchased a rather basic model, as she'd be throwing the thing away after her time here. Electronics did not work in the Wizarding World.  
Buying a bottle of wine was not so simple though. Imogen had forgotten about the age restrictions related to buying alcohol, and so, with a quick look to make sure no one was watching, she pulled her wand out of her boot and transfigured the bottle of sauvignon blanc into a bottle of Coca-Cola. The man at the counter smiled at her as she payed him, and told him to keep the change.  
She was walking back to the house when she heard someone calling her name. She looked across the street and saw a canary yellow Porsche, and Alice Cullen waving enthusiastically from the driver's seat.  
Imogen smiled and walked over to say hello.

"Imogen! Hi. I didn't see you after school, but I wanted to ask you if you and Alana want to come into Port Angeles with me and tomorrow to buy something to wear to the party?"  
Imogen nodded, smiling slightly at the enthusiastic girl. "Yeah. Sounds fine. We just have to do some setting up for the party, I suppose, so we'll have to be back in time."  
Alice waved away the thought. "No, Jasper and Edward will be taking care of all of that while we're out, so all we have to worry about is what to wear."  
Imogen felt a surge of irritation at the sound of Edward's name, but she forced it to the back of her mind. "Ok then. Well, what time should we expect you?"  
Alice grinned. "Lemme get your cell-phone number, and I'll give you text or something with the details?"  
Imogen inwardly thanked Granger for the heads up about the cell, and passed her phone over to the girl in the car, who entered a few numbers and saved the contact.  
"Alrighty! I'm looking forward to it! Let me know what Alana says, yeah?"  
Imogen said nothing, but took her phone back and nodded at her new friend's words, waving as she pulled away from the curb and drove off with a screech of tyres.

Imogen took her time getting home, choosing to walk around the town a little more to find her way around and familiarise herself with the place. When she got home again, Alana had arrived with Embry, Quil and Jake, and they were all sitting in the living room watching some TV show.  
Alana looked up as her friend entered the room. "Hey Mimi! Where have you been?"  
Imogen held up the bottle of wine as an answer.

Alana laughed. "Was today really that bad?"  
Imogen sat next to Quil with a full to the brim wine glass, and took a large sip gratefully before answering. "No, the day was fine. Edward Cullen was that bad."  
Jake gave a large chuckle at this, but said nothing.  
Alana rolled her eyes. "What's the deal with you two? Why so much dislike?"  
Imogen tried not to sigh, but failed. "He's arrogant, smug, always so sure he's right to the detriment of other people's opinions, and he doesn't know when to leave well-enough alone."  
Jake chose this moment to join in the conversation. "And he thinks he knows what's good for other people, even if they tell him otherwise, and never lets anyone make their own decisions about their life!"

Imogen grinned and raised her glass in a toast to Jake's statement.

"Wow," Alana giggled. "I'm feeling a lot of hostility in the room at the moment."

"Well, he shouldn't be such a… Well, I'm not going to use that word, but just know I'm thinking something very unflattering." Imogen sniffed, but her façade crumbled as she smirked.

"What are you up to tomorrow, Imogen? Alana said that your friends were coming to visit, and there's that party of yours tomorrow night, but we're taking Alana up to the Res, once your friends arrive. Wanna join in?" Embry asked, not looking away from the tv.

Imogen cringed. "I forgot Draco and Blaise! Shit!"

Alana cocked her head. "Huh?"

Imogen sighed with frustration at herself, and explained. "I saw Alice Cullen on the way home. She asked if we wanted to go to Port Angeles to buy an outfit for the party tomorrow night. I already told her yes, but I completely forgot that Draco and Blaise were showing up tomorrow morning."

"You're going to Port Angeles for shopping? That's not like the Imogen Snape I know and love." Alana snickered.

"Well, I like Alice well enough, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to make friends. And I didn't really get a chance to talk to Bella, so I'll get to know her a bit tomorrow. " Imogen shrugged. "Oh, and Alice said that she's recruited Jasper and… _Edward _to set up for the party tomorrow, so we just need to let them in before we go." She added as an afterthought.

"Right. I have a feeling that Blaise is gonna be more interested in shopping than he is in quad bikes, so once they turn up, we can see what everyone wants to do, yeah?" Alana smiled.

Imogen nodded in agreement. "Sounds pretty good. What time is everyone arriving tomorrow morning?"

"The boys are arriving at eight in the morning. Embry's gonna swing by here at nine, and then the party starts at seven pm, so I wanna be back here to get ready by five-thirty, maybe? Tell Alice and Bella they can get ready here too, if they want." Alana rattled the times off from memory.

Imogen took in all the times, and then pulled out her new mobile phone, texting Alice slowly to ask if she could pick Imogen up at around nine, and that their friends from England might be joining them.

"You got a phone?" Alana shrieked excitedly, noticing what her brunette friend was doing.

"Yeah. It seemed a bit off, not having one." Imogen shrugged, but handing it to Alana so she could have a look at it. Alana seemed much more adept with all of the inner workings of the phone. Imogen was pleased that she could even sent a text message.  
"Where'd you get it from? I might pick one up in the morning." Alana said, changing Imogen's background to a photo of herself.

"Just this shop down the road." Imogen drained the rest of her glass of wine, and then stood to pour herself a fresh glass. "Well, I have an essay to write about 'Pride and Prejudice', so if you'll excuse me."

There was a chorus of "Bye" from the boys, and Alana tossed Imogen back her phone, who just managed to catch it without spilling her drink.

"Have fun, Mimi." Alana chirped, turning back to the television.

"So, Edward is invited to the party then?" Jake asked, putting the same amount of dislike on the boy's name as Imogen did.

"Well, yeah." Alana answered. "I don't have a problem with him, and we've invited all his siblings, as well as Bella. It'd be way too rude to not invite him. Especially now he's apparently setting up."

"I'm not sure you should be getting so close to that family, 'Lana." Quil said hesitantly.

"Why?" Alana asked, genuinely confused.

"They're just… Not normal." Jake spoke up.

"I think they're nice. 'Not normal' isn't really enough of a reason to not talk to them just yet, sorry." Alana said, still confused, but not really willing to discuss the matter any further.

"Just giving you a heads up." Said Jake, standing. "Come on, guys. It's pretty late. We should be heading home."

Alana checked the time. 11.26pm. How did it get so late? She saw the boys out with many "I'll see you tomorrow's", and then crawled off to bed, noting with an eye roll that Imogen and Hermione were still awake, no doubt being responsible students and keeping up with their workload. Alana changed and climbed under the covers, wondering why on earth Jake and Quil were warning her about the Cullens, and what they could possibly mean by 'Not normal.'


End file.
